Fondest Memory

(For Jess)

Now that's a hard one. When it comes to gaming you would almost have to go back and span my whole life to figure out exactly what moment was the most fond. All my life I've been gaming, since I was at least four. I remember growing up (5 - 8) me and my old best friend Shawn (Gauvin) would play games like Goldeneye and Rush and pretend we were two undercover agents going to save the girls of our dreams. Back then I remember I played games cause of the pure imagination of them. I never used to buy a game for the story or characters or anything. I used to buy it for the amount of time I would get out of playing it! I must have clocked at least 200+ hours into Ocarina of Time pretending to be Link. That was a long time ago though and now at days I don't really play games as much.




A little while back I was talking to Steph (my girlfriend) about how gaming has changed for me since then. I told her that some of my fondest memories were going to Blockbuster and renting a game then playing all weekend every weekend, even long after they were beat. I would just play it and play it using my imagination. I realized that when you use your imagination games have unlimited re-playability and that was what made them so worth playing.



For me I have a million memories for gaming. Playing online with my friends. I remember this one time in Resistance: Fall of Man I was playing with Jeremy, Saku, Mindfreak and Alex and everything was quiet. No one said a single word, then all of sudden Jeremy screams: "Would you guys SHUT THE F**K UP!?"... Everyone was puzzled and then Saku was like "What?" and Jeremy was like "Not you, my mom. Her and my sister are being ret@rded!" Then you could hear Jeremy's Mom in the background it went a little like this:

Jeremy's Mom: "What are you doing down there!?"

Jeremy: "Playing online!"

- Awkward silence for about 10 seconds

Jeremy's Mom: "...Do you think you're cool!?"

We all just bursted out laughing. It was such a good time, but every time with us was always a good time and I guess that's why it's so hard to choose. I mean like I said before, I remember playing Majora's Mask growing up and my dad was outside building me a snow fort to surprise me. I remember that and I really cherish it. I also remember clocking in at least 100+ hours into Oblivion and Fallout 3. Those games could always make me smile, there was NOT a SINGLE MISSION I DIDN'T LIKE!!! I love those games so much. I also remember going through Metal Gear Solid 2:Substance's VR Missions 100.00%. It took me and Jeremy four full sleep overs and over 40+ hours of gameplay to beat that! I remember finally beating Ruby weapon in Final Fantasy VII. Jeremy thought I was God for doing it. lol. I remember so much and it would be almost impossible to just choose one thing.

One thing I can tell you though is honestly, I don't like what gaming's become. I remember going out and buying Gamepro or something like that and reading about games and all that and back then there was no "expectations" or anything like that. Games were games and no matter how bad they sucked we saw it through. I don't know, maybe that's just me but it seems like now at days everyone's trying to be "revolutionary" and if you ask me, you don't have to be. Look New Super Mario Bros Wii went back to basics and everyone loves it. So if you ask me gaming's gotta slow down and allow gamers to enjoy the ride, cause up to now my ride's been one hell of a trip. I would hate for anyone else to just zoom on by. So take the time to enjoy your games like I have and hopefully you'll all be able to appreciate your games as much as I do. Thanks Jess for the question and I hope that this was a good enough response. Until next time.

- Locke Downe